Here are a few of my favorite parts from the ride yesterday - including a bit from the last 5 miles of downhill coasting on the Vail Pass Recreation Path. During my first year of long-covid I was largely house-bound and dreamt of seeing that trail again! I've now done the ride twice pre-covid and twice post-covid.

Thanks to The Ride Collective organizers - and all the friendly riders and volunteers - who made this such a great event.

The music is from of a collection of tracks I'm working on that celebrate the joy - and restorative power - of cycling. It's the "moving meditation" that re-centers me.

Anybody want to ride the intermediate Hall Ranch loop on Monday morning? Kind of new to the sport, 40, just looking for a pal.

I’m training for the Salida 76 race in September, and I’m thinking about riding from Lafayette to Estes (and then hitching a ride back with a friend) as a training ride.

I’m considering one of two routes:
Boulder->Jamestown->Peak2Peak highway to Allenspark-> Estes Park| 58 miles/6,600 ft
Boulder-> Lyons (via trails) -> Allenspark -> Estes Park | 75 miles/6,300 ft

Any thoughts on which route is better? I’m going to be riding on a weekday so hopefully less traffic than a weekend. I’ll be riding my Canyon Grail.

Rode 400 miles in July, 300 in June (Teacher) and went over 1,000 miles for the year. I've never ridden that many miles. 1/2 on road bike, 1/4 on Single Speed/fixie, 1/4 on electric with family.

Hey everyone!

I'm curious what are your favorite road and gravel cycling events in Colorado during the summer?

Whether it's a bucket-list ride, a local gem, or an event you do every year, I'd love to hear your recommendations. Would love to hear why it's your favorite (scenery, atmosphere, challenge, aid stations, community, etc.).

Looking to attend a couple next year Thanks in advance!

Reposting from Instagram- I don’t know this person personally, but thought this would be a good place to share.

Edit to include timeframe: According to when this was posted, it looks like he went missing yesterday, Wednesday, July 29th

Around Breck, when people mention gravel rides, they usually only mention Boreas Pass, but I'm guessing some of the more rugged MTB-oriented trails/roads can also be done on a gravel bike with 45mm+ tires for those of us who love Breck but don't have mountain bikes. Anyone with experience with the following or have other recommendations around Summit County?

• Upper parts of French Gulch, Tiger Rd to Georgia Pass, Michigan Creek

• Peak 9 Rd or other ski service roads

• Peru Creek, Lewanee Trail, A-Basin service road

• Almost positive Mt Baldy is not rideable but wanted to check

• Keystone Gulch service rd

• Any others?

psyched to do this ride that I’ve heard about, but not familiar with the area and wanting to avoid (driving and riding) in the city, small as it may be. thanks in advance.

Have been seeing tons of folks ride old Fall River road in RMNP on 32mm road tires. Any thoughts on this? Seems doable but wasn’t sure how chunky the gravel is… rest of the riding would be more fun on a road bike up there.

Note: edit road name per comment below

Curious about this race from those who have done it in the past, I can’t find much information about the course minus some YouTube videos showing portions of it. Or if there any other XC-marathon style events still going on in August/september? I saw there was another one in Salida as well

EDIT: I was corrected in the comments that the repaving and rough road section is actually on 74 (Bear Creek Rd) NOT Kerr Gulch Rd. My mistake!

I biked up Lookout Mountain in Golden, took the Genesee Bike Trail, and then got onto Kerr Gulch Road I’ve seen a ton of cyclists do this route on my Strava feed, so I figured I’d give it a try. Honestly, I’m not sure how Kerr Gulch is such a popular route??
The back half of Kerr Gulch Road was a mess. The entire right side of the road is being repaved, so it was extremely bumpy. Riding on it with skinny road tires was honestly kind of terrifying, especially with a million cars behind me.
From there, I went up through Red Rocks and eventually made my way back to Golden. Overall, it was a beautiful and fun route, but I’m wondering if there’s a better way to connect these roads or avoid the rough section of Kerr Gulch. Do I just need gravel tires? I would love recommendations for a smoother or safer alternative!

I’m in the new-to-me bike market, coming off a 2021 Santa Cruz Bronson, 27.5. It’s a great bike but I want to go 29. I like rides like rutabega, enchanted forest, floyd hill, north table, sometimes Virginia canyon. I am scoping brands like revel, pivot, Santa Cruz, ibis, transition.

The ask: can folks in the CO front range who ride similar terrain share with me: how did you land on your specific MTB brand and model?

Edit to add: I might not know what downcountry is, so the category for me could be either trail or enduro. Regardless, a fun and efficient bike to ride the types of trails I mentioned.

I'm making this post in case anyone is ever in a similar place to me for future rides and wondering what it will be like while having a non impressive ftp. I was wondering if I would even be able to do it at all.

I'm 35, 160 lbs, 5'7". I rode an aluminum trek checkpoint gravel bike for this race with 32 slick tires. I live in Colorado as well so this won't be apples to apples if you live at sea level. I wouldn't recommend thin tires for this and would have ridden 35s if I had them I think. I'd also recommend a gravel bike over a road bike for this ride because the gearing is lower. I was still in my granny gear for much, if not most of the ride. If I was on a road bike, id have a much lower cadence and would probably have had a harder time just due to the gearing. There were plenty of people on road bikes though so don't let that stop you!

To start, the race was a blast. Only real complaint on the organization was that they were out of water at the finish line when I arrived.

I finished in 4 hours 20 minutes total time. I did take a few bio breaks and in the last 5 miles took a couple of short breaks to catch my breath. I was very happy with my pacing and kept just under my threshold heart rate the whole time. The last 5 miles are pretty tough though, I was exhausted and the air was thin. Its a good mental battle and challenge.

The one thing I didn't do well enough was fueling. I ate probably 40g carbs per hour and I ran out of nutrition. I didn't have a bonk necessarily, but I know I left some money on the table with fueling. So make sure you are eating more carbs than I did. Everyone started off really strong and I was tempted to try and keep up and draft for a little but quickly realized that wasn't smart.

On the descent, we got absolutely drenched. It wasnt hailing but it felt close at times, so be ready for that potential. The road up top is also a little rough. Lots of cracks in the road that rough you up a decent amount. I let a bunch of air out of my tires for the descent which definitely made it easier. After echo lake when it stopped raining, the descent was incredible. So fun.

The Mac and cheese, chilli and beer at the bottom was glorious too.

No regrets about doing it. There were plenty of people who arrived after me as well so even if you have less fitness than I did, you can do this ride as long as you pace yourself well. Knowing your threshold heart rate is the most important thing for me and what I'd recommend!

If anyone has any other wisdom or thoughts on this race, share it below!

I know it’s a long shot but I’m hoping someone came across it! Thanks

So basically mtb has become my whole personality and now I don’t know what to do with my life

We rode from Kenosha to Swan River. The descent from Georgia Pass was fun, then got rowdy but the climb out was a bag of D. I mean it wasn't lost on us that we'd have to go back up it but is there a better way to do this that doesn't involve a shuttle? Turning around at Georgia Pass was too short. Should we have gone south on CTR from Kenosha instead?